Saturday, December 22, 2007

Love Wins - All throughout December

I got a call yesterday from a guy named Guido. Guido is the head of security and a manager at Bonita Flats. He called to tell me they'd raised $200 in a collection the other night and wanted to give it to a family in need. Just a few hours earlier, I'd received an email from a small group, asking if we could find a way to help a family in need. And what's really crazy is that Guido said they used to sponsor a family through a particular organization but that organization won't accept their money due to the nature of their business. I really don't get that.

My wife has been working her tail off this month, taking gifts to the clubs every Friday night during December. This Friday they brought some CD's we made, the cover of which is the picture in this email. But the hard work has been paying off, as they have had more conversation with dancers and managers than ever before. Here are some of Erin's thoughts on what has happened this month.

On Saturday evening, December 15, we went to the End zone to deliver treat bags and to pick up the club's gifts for the adopted family. When we got there, the door guy knew who we were and started to razz us a bit. To me, this means that he is getting used to our presence. We said that we had an appointment with Angela and he let us go right in.I looked around the room and made eye contact with a couple of the ladies working. They had smiles as they saw us coming in. One of the ladies was there when we were decorating a couple of weeks ago. We didn't get to chat with her on this visit because she was working.We found Angela and followed her into the office where she had the gifts. Piled in a corner, were several bags of all of the things that the adopted family had requested - shoes, coats, a radio, undergarments, other clothes, etc.Before picking everything up, I decided to take the treat bags into the dressing room. There were a few girls chatting in there, so I introduced myself and we chitchatted a bit. They acknowledged the decorations and thanked me for the treats. One of the girls overheard and said, "Thanks. I don't know what's going on out there, but thanks." We had a great conversation with Angela before we left, but I think Jaymie will share more of that.

Next we were off to Bonita Flats. Since it was an early part of the shift, the door guys were not at the window when we arrived. So, we walked in and asked if we could come in and deliver treats. The bar is up close to the door, and sitting right at the entry were two ladies. When we said that we had gifts, one of the ladies got an incredulous look on her face and said, "You bring gifts to strippers?" Jaymie lost no time in replying, "Yep!" Then she replied, "Well that's great, because I'm hungry!"As we set down the bag, the other lady said to her coworker, "Yeah. They're all over the place. Last week they were decorating the dressing room across the street." Another lady overheard all of this and was nodding the whole time. As we were leaving she thanked us for all that we do. We got a smile from one of the door guys and he greeted us as we left. Another evening of breaking down perceptions, another evening of God showing Himself to us and to others.

To give a little bit of theological reflection on the ministry, I firmly believe we're expanding the community of Trinity Family church to both Bonita Flats and The End Zone. Our church is not just about what happens among our small groups, in Madison Elementary but it's also happening in these two clubs. Pumps me up!